If you asked 100 men why they first joined a gym and started lifting weights, a large portion of them would reference an action movie such as Rambo as their primary influence for making the first step into the fitness community. However, dreaming of owning an action hero physique and actually doing it are two very different things, as you are about to find out when we tackle the Sylvester Stallone arm workout below.
Looking at the super lean physique you see on screen in the final product, it would be quite foolish to walk into a workout like this with ambitions of taking it easy. Use that vision of the end result as a barometer to tell you that this is going to be very tough.
The workout Sly Stallone used to build his sculpted arms is renowned for it's simplicity and it's brutality. While the exercises are very basic, the techniques deployed are certainly not basic!
This arm circuit is split into 4 stages, running through each muscle in the arm by itself to allow for greater focus on the area in question. We will cover a section for biceps, forearms, triceps and a cool down phase. Each phase is performed as a circuit four times.
Dumbbell Hammer Curl - Go quite heavy on this exercise for 12 reps while your biceps are still at their full ability.
Incline Dumbbell Curl - 15 reps on an incline bench.
Biceps Curl using an EZ bar - The fundamental biceps exercise, perform 12 reps using a regular grip before switching to a much harder wide grip and forcing out a few more.
Flat Cable Curls - Pull a flat bench underneath a cable pulley station and lie on it. Curl down towards your head. The constant tension provided by the cables will make this variation of a curl much more difficult, so aim for 15 reps with a significantly lighter load.
Twisting Chain Curls - Attach a free weight to a chain and hold the chain so the weight is hanging down. Now perform a curl, while twisting your palms to face away from you at the top of each rep. This engages the muscles in your biceps and forearms. Remember, the forearms are a lot smaller and the instability of a hanging plate is very noticeable, thus a lighter weight is required.
After four rounds of the biceps circuit, we move on to the second phase which focuses on our forearms in a lot more depth than most guys currently do in the gym. Try to perform 20 repetitions of Reverse Curls, Wrist Curls, Reverse Wrist Curls and Handshake Curls before finishing off by simply hanging from a pull up station for as long as possible to work on your grip strength.
The workout's final stage features it's largest muscle group, the triceps. Go heavy to obtain maximum results but also bear in mind how fatigued you will feel at this point. The first exercise in this phase is Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press for 10 repetitions.
Bench Dips form a large part of this phase. Perform them to failure before moving onto a set of 12 Triceps Pushdowns with a rope attachment. Then go back into dips until you reach failure again and finish off with 20 Dumbbell Kickbacks.
Only a cool down phase remains, but by this point in time you might be tempted to quit. That would be a bad idea, as cool downs have been shown to help prevent blood pooling and dizziness. It only consists of a Plank held t failure three times and a closing out set of close-grip push ups.
The time and dedication which goes into building a physique for the big screen is quite daunting. Rome was not built in a day, as they say, and this workout is certainly structured with that quote in mind. The high intensity circuit style often tricks people into thinking it's going to be easy. You will increase your chances of success if you don't make that mistake.
The Sylvester Stallone arm workout is one of the most brutal celebrity training sessions out there and that is largely down to the man himself. After all, you wouldn't expect a Rocky-style training session to be anything too easy.
Looking at the super lean physique you see on screen in the final product, it would be quite foolish to walk into a workout like this with ambitions of taking it easy. Use that vision of the end result as a barometer to tell you that this is going to be very tough.
The workout Sly Stallone used to build his sculpted arms is renowned for it's simplicity and it's brutality. While the exercises are very basic, the techniques deployed are certainly not basic!
This arm circuit is split into 4 stages, running through each muscle in the arm by itself to allow for greater focus on the area in question. We will cover a section for biceps, forearms, triceps and a cool down phase. Each phase is performed as a circuit four times.
Dumbbell Hammer Curl - Go quite heavy on this exercise for 12 reps while your biceps are still at their full ability.
Incline Dumbbell Curl - 15 reps on an incline bench.
Biceps Curl using an EZ bar - The fundamental biceps exercise, perform 12 reps using a regular grip before switching to a much harder wide grip and forcing out a few more.
Flat Cable Curls - Pull a flat bench underneath a cable pulley station and lie on it. Curl down towards your head. The constant tension provided by the cables will make this variation of a curl much more difficult, so aim for 15 reps with a significantly lighter load.
Twisting Chain Curls - Attach a free weight to a chain and hold the chain so the weight is hanging down. Now perform a curl, while twisting your palms to face away from you at the top of each rep. This engages the muscles in your biceps and forearms. Remember, the forearms are a lot smaller and the instability of a hanging plate is very noticeable, thus a lighter weight is required.
After four rounds of the biceps circuit, we move on to the second phase which focuses on our forearms in a lot more depth than most guys currently do in the gym. Try to perform 20 repetitions of Reverse Curls, Wrist Curls, Reverse Wrist Curls and Handshake Curls before finishing off by simply hanging from a pull up station for as long as possible to work on your grip strength.
The workout's final stage features it's largest muscle group, the triceps. Go heavy to obtain maximum results but also bear in mind how fatigued you will feel at this point. The first exercise in this phase is Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press for 10 repetitions.
Bench Dips form a large part of this phase. Perform them to failure before moving onto a set of 12 Triceps Pushdowns with a rope attachment. Then go back into dips until you reach failure again and finish off with 20 Dumbbell Kickbacks.
Only a cool down phase remains, but by this point in time you might be tempted to quit. That would be a bad idea, as cool downs have been shown to help prevent blood pooling and dizziness. It only consists of a Plank held t failure three times and a closing out set of close-grip push ups.
The time and dedication which goes into building a physique for the big screen is quite daunting. Rome was not built in a day, as they say, and this workout is certainly structured with that quote in mind. The high intensity circuit style often tricks people into thinking it's going to be easy. You will increase your chances of success if you don't make that mistake.
The Sylvester Stallone arm workout is one of the most brutal celebrity training sessions out there and that is largely down to the man himself. After all, you wouldn't expect a Rocky-style training session to be anything too easy.
About the Author:
Get your guide: Successful online personal trainer Russ Howe PTI helps many people how to build their best body in the gym and at home. See the complete guide to the full sylvester stallone arm workout for free on his website.
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